So imagine my excitement when Believe Me came up as an option to request from NetGalley, and a couple days later I was approved to receive an advanced copy by the publisher.

The first thing that struck me was the way in which the story was written. In addition to traditional story writing and sentence structure, parts of the book were written as the script of a play and others were delivered via poetry. It made for really interesting transitions and kept me engaged throughout.

I’m not even sure that I could write a quick synopsis that would do this book justice. Believe Me is about an aspiring English actress, Claire, who finds herself in America, struggling to make ends meet in the Big Apple. Without a green card, she finds work difficult to acquire and soon ends up working for a private investigator of sorts, hired by suspicious wives to “perform” as a prostitute and see if their husbands will take the bait. However, things don’t exactly go as planned when one of the wives is found murdered in a hotel suite, and her husband becomes the prime suspect. Claire will be hired for her biggest performance yet… seducing the husband and getting him to confess.

There are so many twists and turns in this novel that I never knew what was going to happen next. J.P. Delaney also did a great job of throwing just enough curve balls in that I found myself second guessing all of my intuitions. Just when I thought I knew what was going on, I started to doubt myself and think, “hmm…. maybe not…” I thought the ending was going to be an absolute let down, but I was caught completely off guard and loved it!

This book will make you question whether we are ever truly ourselves, or if we are just actors in the play that is our lives.

Highly recommended. And if you haven’t, check out The Girl Before as well. They are both superb.

-I received this advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, J.P. Delaney, and Random House Publishing’s Ballantine Books for the opportunity to review.-

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Published by homesweethouser

About me? Who am I? I'm Ashley Houser, formerly Tocco (Toe-ko, not Taco). I live in Nashville, Tennessee and work as a pharmacy manager for Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. I married the love of my life in August 2017 and have been enjoying the ride ever since. But, let's get down to why I'm here. I'm a reader. I enjoy all things psychological, thriller, mystery, and everything in between. On occasion I find myself engrossed in a good dystopian novel as well. I started this blog as a place to share my thoughts on books I've ready in the mystery/thriller genre. And while that's still the case, it has now evolved to "all the books." Mystery, thriller, science fiction, southern fiction, young adult, you name it.
There is a little something for everybody. I hope this is a place where people feel inspired to pick up a book and jump into their next literary adventure. Happy reading!
-- XOXO Home Sweet Houser --
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